"We're almost there!" Diamond Tiara said while walking down a dirt road in the Everfree Forest.

"This doesn't look like a good idea, Tiara." Silver Spoon said while looking around, cowering behind Scootaloo.

"I'm with Silver Spoon on this one." Scootaloo, who was as afraid as the earth pony filly, but trying as hard as she could to hide it, said.

"Wow, I already knew Scootaloo was a chicken, but you too, Silver Spoon?" Diamond Tiara asked, not bothering to look back at her companions. "I thought you had the spirit of an adventurer."

"An adventurer who is smart enough to not venture into the Everfree Forest..." she mumbled.

"Eh, whatever. We're almost there, anyway!"

"You never told us where 'there' is." the pegasus filly said.

Diamond Tiara didn't answered and they just kept walking. After a few more minutes of silent walking, she stopped in front of a huge, dark cave.

"Here!" she said, pointing at the cave.

"I have many questions in my head right now, but I can summarize all of them into only one: why?"

Diamond Tiara smirked and shouted: "We're here!"

Scootaloo looked at the cave, confused. Silver Spoon shrieked when she felt the ground shake. Then shake again, and again, and again.

"Are those... Steps?" the pegasus asked, then glared at Diamond Tiara. "What have you gotten ourselves into?"

Diamond Tiara turned around and looked at Scootaloo with a smile; her eyes were red and green. The orange pegasus looked back at the entrance of the cave and almost emptied her bladder when she saw what was making the ground shake: a massive dog with three heads. The middle one, with eyes just like Diamond Tiara's, was smiling. The right one had blue eyes with white sclera, very similar to a pony's eyes. The left one had red eyes with yellow sclera, and it was looking at the other two heads, very confused.

"Diamond Tiara!" Silver Spoon shouted, feeling angry, scared and betrayed. "Did you brought us here to die?!"

"Who said anything about dying?" the middle head said, surprising Silver Spoon and Scootaloo.

"You... You can talk?" the pegasus asked.

"And many more things!" he said. "So, these are the ones you brought us, little filly? Eh, I can think of worse options!"

"Who... Who are you? A-And if you're not going to kill us, then what are you going to do to us?" Silver Spoon asked.

"My name is King Sombra!" he said. "I'm sure you already know my partner here, Pinkamena Diane Pie!"

"Hey Silver Spoon. Hey, Scootaloo. Hey, Diamond Tiara." the right head said while waving the right forepaw.

"King Sombra? It's really you? Oh, it's been so long, old buddy!"

Silver Spoon looked at Scootaloo. "'Old buddy'? Do you know him?"

"Oh, right, I forgot I'm not here!" Scootaloo said with a smile, her eyes now red with yellow sclera. "You see, I'm not Scootaloo! I just borrowed her body for a while."

"You're... Discord? Bu-But how? Why are you in Scootaloo's body?"

"Simple! Remember when I gave Scootaloo her body back? Well, I placed a little something inside her brain. One that would allow me to observe everything she sees and even take over if I needed to! And boy, I'm glad I did that! How are you, King Sombrero? You look different, did you gained weight?"

"Well, well, well. Discord! It's been over a thousand years, hasn't it? And I heard that your tournament is getting quite popular like it used to be!"

"Still not quite as popular, with all that 'you shouldn't play Twisted Metal' talk the Royal Pain-In-The-Ass Duo are spreading, but ponies keep coming every month, so it's not much of a bother! Now, I couldn't help but notice that you want my little puppet here for something. What is it?"

"It's not very complicated. I just want to walk among ponies again, but I can't do that with this humongous body, can I?"

Discord directed his attention to Diamond Tiara. "And how did you got her to play along? I've been watching her, and she may be small, but no pushover, and takes orders from nopony! She reminds me a lot of you when you were her age. Ponies grow up so fast these days!"

"I got help from one of your foes, that purple Alicorn! She managed to destroy my Amulet, freeing my essence that powered it. I had to think fast, otherwise it would be destroyed too, so I ordered it to take shelter in the closest source of evil it could find. I was surprised that it was not only very close, but also so young! The Alicorn tried to locate it, but there was just so much evil inside this filly's heart that it was like looking for a tear in the ocean. It didn't took long for my essence to take over her body, and now she is just another brainless drone, ready to do whatever I tell her to do!"

"Oh, so you have your own puppet, too? It's starting to look like a toy store here!" Discord/Scootaloo then looked at Silver Spoon. "If only we had another..."

"Oh, can I have her? Can I have her?" Pinkamena asked.

"Of course, my dear." Sombra said. "But, I guess the pegasus is not available, then?"

Discord chuckled. "Oh, no, don't mind me, you can have her! In fact, take her as a 'welcome' gift." Discord clopped Scootaloo's hoove together, making a rope appear and tie all her forelegs together. "Gift-wrapped and everything!"

"You are so generous, Discord. But that doesn't change a thing! The promise I made last time I played Twisted Metal before the Princesses... Got rid of me, still stands. I will beat you and your powers will be mine. Every single ounce!"

"Oh, please, like nopony tried that one before!" he looked at the head possessed by Pinkamena, who simply looked away from him. "Good luck, though. I'll see you in Twisted Metal!"

Scootaloo's eyes returned to normal and she groaned in pain. She tried to rub her forehead with a hoof, but since they were all tied, all she managed to do was fall flat on the ground. "Ow! What happened? Why am I all tied up?"

Cerberus/Sombra approached the fillies, his face had a calming, yet fearsome smile.

"Don't worry, you two." he said. "This will only take a moment at it will be mostly painless!"

Purple smoke started to come out of his eyes and pink smoke started to come out of Pinkamena's eyes, but before they could steal Scootaloo's and Silver Spoon's bodies, the left head, finally realizing that those two were no longer his brothers, decided to attack. He bit King Sombra's neck, making him and Pinkamena yell in pain, breaking their concentration and the spell.

"That's our chance, Silver Spoon!" Scootaloo yelled. "Help me and let's get out of here!"

"But... But... Diamond Tiara is still--"

"She brought us here as a gift to that thing! Do you really still think of her as a friend?"

The grey earth pony looked at her pink friend, who was still grinning at them, her eyes still green and red.

"I--"

"SILVER SPOON!"

With tears in her eyes, Silver Spoon dodged the hound and ran to where her other friend was lying. She lifted Scootaloo and placed her on her back before dashing away from there.

It didn't took long for King Sombra to overpower the Cerberus' remaining head which still had free will, making it faint due to the big amount of injuries. He looked around and, after noticing that the two fillies were no longer there, let out a loud roar.

"What are we going to do now?" Pinkamena asked.

Sombra looked at Diamond Tiara and, after pondering for a few moments, turned his head to look at Pinkamena.

"I hope you don't mind sharing." he said.

She smiled. "You gotta share, you gotta care!"

"Are you sure you want to come with me, Sister?" Luna asked with concern.

"Our subjects are my responsability as much as they're yours." she explained. "If you are willing to bet your life for their sake, then so am I!"

"But if I fall, at least Equestria still has you. And let's face it, they trust you, but still fear me. You are by far the best option!"

"That's why we explained everything to her. If we fail, she will take over!"

They looked at a purple streak in the sky, quickly approaching the castle.

"Are we going to tell her?"

"No. Let's not worry her. She already has a lot in her mind as it it!"

Twilight Sparkle landed on the balcony of the throne room where they were standing soon after they were finished talking.

"Twilight, it's good to see you." Celestia said with a warm smile.

"Good afternoon, Princesses!" she greeted them. "I'm here to check up on Trixie!"

"Unfortunately, we're still not finished." Luna explained. "We still have a lot to study about her past, her intentions and her new strenght!"

"You're just jealous that she is almost as powerful as you." Celestia said with a chuckle. Luna blushed a little and looked away. "But Luna is right, we're still not sure if it's safe for her to walk among us just yet. After all, she did enslaved a whole town in a matter of hours!"

"Can I at least talk to her?"

Princess Celestia looked at Princess Luna, who nodded.

"Sure thing, Twilight!"

"Thank you!" Twilight said and bowed before walking toward the exit of the room.

"One more thing, Twilight Sparkle." Luna called.

She stopped and looked back at the Lunar Princess. "Yes?"

"I couldn't help but notice that you decided to come here by wind, and I find it quite odd, since you were neglecting both your wings and your new powers since Discord turned you into an Alicorn. Care to explain the change?"

She smiled. "I finally came to terms with my Alicorn powers. After all, if it wasn't for them, I would have perished in that pocket universe and not standing here, talking to you about it!"

"So, can we finally start planning your coronation ceremony, Princess Twilight Sparkle?" Celestia asked with a smile.

Twilight's smile grew bigger. "I would be honored!"

Twilight knocked on the door four times and waited.

"It's locked from the outside." a voice explained from inside the room. "Feel free to enter if the key is there."

The Alicorn unlocked the door and slowly opened it. The room was dark, since the window was closed. All the room had was a bed, and another Alicorn, who was lying on it, her back turned to the open door.

"Trixie?" she called.

The mare on the bed slowly turned to look at her visitor.

"Hello, Twilight."

She entered the room and closed the door behind her. Trixie sat up, looking down at the floor. Twilight jumped on the bed and sat beside her.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like a prisoner."

"I'm so sorry about this, but the Princesses--"

"They still think I'm a threat, I know that. I don't blame them. If it wasn't for my stupid 'revenge', this wouldn't have happened!"

"Which brings us to why I'm here. I want to learn your story, Trixie. This question never leaves my head, no matter the situation: why do you hate me so much?"

"Hated." she corrected. "I've been thinking ever since I was locked in here, and finally realized that I shouldn't be hating you. But do you really want to hear the sob story of a simple showmare? I assure you, it doesn't have a happy ending."

"Yet!" she said, smiling at her. "Now please, I'm all ears."

"Well..."

I know you are many things, Twilight Sparkle, and dumb is not one of them, so I'm sure you already know that I studied at Princess Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns and that my father, Noble Laureate, was a teacher there. I wanted to impress him since I was a little filly, but nothing seemed to please him. The first time I actually saw him smiling was when I was accepted in the same school he worked on. Though I can say that he was less than static when he found out that my special talent is not related to magic or studies, but entertainment. But I digress!

I tried my best to make him happy and proud of me, and that's why I couldn't accept grades less than perfect. Princess Celestia herself praised me personally. That's the second time I saw him smile. But then you appeared and everything went wrong!

You were already quite famous for being the Princess's protégé, but not enough to drag that much attention. Also, most of the classes you were attending to were theoretical, so you weren't doing anything interesting either. Then you started attending magic classes. And you were amazing! Everypony wanted to know you. Everypony wanted to be with you. Everypony wanted to be you! But you didn't seemed that interesting in having friends and spent more times with books than ponies.

That didn't stopped them, though. No, every single one of the ponies who were attending my father's classes of history of magic just to get my attention now had you as their milestone and simply left. In a matter of weeks, I was the only pony attending his classes. Meanwhile, the magic classes were overflowing with fillies and colts, so they had to separate it in two. Sadly, there were no vacant rooms in the school and they had to dismiss one teacher in order to make room for another. Since history of magic is an optional class starting from the third year and there was only one student left attending daddy's classes, he was the chosen one.

I tried my best. I gave him gifts, but he simply put them aside; the gift-wrapped ones were never opened. I performed magic shows to him, but he wasn't even close to impressed, since his magical abilities were far beyond mine. I tried to get him a new job, but he never went to any of the interviews; that stallion was just like myself: stubborn and full of pride, so the only job he would accept was his place back in Celestia's school. While he was patient and ready to wait an eternity for Celestia to appear in our doorstep and beg for him to return, the bills weren't as patient and started to pile up.

It took very long for him to realize that our situation was critical, but his stubbornness wasn't simply going to fade and he would never get another job until he was a teacher again. But he needed money, so he started to visit the darkest corners of Canterlot, borrowing bits. Six months had passed and the ponies who lend him money wanted him to pay his debts with them. But he didn't had a single bit left. The night he was murdered was the last time I saw him smile. And with that same smile, he said his last words I ever heard:

"Beatrix, don't be like daddy."

Halfway through her story, Trixie started to cry, but not hard enough to not be able to keep talking anymore, and Twilight wrappeda wing around her, gently rubbing her back.

"I blamed you for everything. If you weren't so famous, so talented, daddy wouldn't have lost his job and would still be among us! Or, at least, that's what I repeated to myself in my head until I could believe in it. But I can see it now, it wasn't your fault. It couldn't ever be. You can't be mad at others for being talented at what they do, it's just not right! It wasn't your fault, it was his pride's..."

"I understand, Trixie. I understand!" she said. "But there's just one queston left: you disappeared for a few years before The Great And Powerful Trixie appeared. What happened?"

Trixie was silent for a few moments and wiped her tears before saying:

"I tracked every single pony who had anything to do with my father's death..." she slowly turned her head at Twilight. Her eyes were full of regret, pain, sadness, but also satisfaction. "...and killed all of them!"

Diamond Tiara slowly walked out of the Everfree Forest. Her usually well kept mane was now poofy and her sapphire blue eyes were red. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh Equestrian air that the parasite inside her hand't smelled in centuries.

"I..." she said, her voice sounding tired and raspy. "Live..." she smirked and opened her eyes. "Again..."

Author's Notes:

I know I said all the build-up and presentation was over, but I simply had no other place to stick this chapter in. If I did it before, it would be even more rushed than already is. If I did it later, then the act that this is bulding up to would be very lame for the same reason: it would look rushed.
Again, sorry if it's rushed, but I just had nowhere else to put this and I didn't wanted to take the attention away from Twisted Metal itself! After all, the last two chapters were already not very Twisted Metal-esque, and I couldn't have a third one doing that!
And it's better to rush one chapter and save the others than try to save one and make everything else suck!